N early a century before the pilgrms landed at Plymouth rock, Spanish explorers in Mexico sent word back to their king of an amazing cape, ("cabo"), or promontory, jutting out into the Pacific. It was full of rare flowers, birds, and, of even greater interest, pearls.

Here towering mountains and lush foliage came together in the tropical zone of what is now Baja California Sur, 700 miles south of the US border, with the most glowing reports centering on a large open bay called Bahia de Las Palmas- "The Bay of the Palms", on the east side of the cape, well up into the Sea of Cortez.

Here, in the beautiful little village of Los Barriles, an architectural masterpiece created from native stone Hotel Palmas de Cortez sits among acres of tropical gardens and winding pathways at the very edge of the placid sea.